Boy Talk
by Jugbean
Summary: Syaoran, fed up with Eriol denying his feelings for Tomoyo, decides it's high time for him to have a one-on-one confrontation with the blue-eyed boy early one morning in Seijouu High!


Cardcaptor Sakura

Syaoran and Eriol fic

Author Notes:

The boys are in the first term of Seijouu High, which should be (presses calculator) approximately about 13 year old. I hope. )

Enjoy

chiri no tenshi

****

Boy Talk

Li Syaoran stood by the lockers.

He looked amazingly like a statue, and he was almost formidable in the Seijouu High record for trying to become a replica of one by standing there with the same, fiery frown upon his lips and those spiraling arrows and cutting daggers speared from his eyes.

He looked mad.

Worst, his eyes were watching the wall clock, and he seemed to find it amusedly interesting to observe the minute-hand fondly. His trained eyes had not left the same spot for a full 15 minutes now, and people walking by the locker alley either thought the amber-eyed boy was mad, or he was trying a scientific experiment on how long a mortal could withstand not moving in a position for many minutes.

His eyes looked as if they were going into battle stance any minute the minute-hand clock moved once more.

Three seconds more, and the minute-hand inched forward. Instantly, Syaoran was all up on his feet, pushing himself away from the lockers. On cue, his ears pricked as the sounds became closer now.

The familiar thudding of footsteps was heard, and Eriol Hiiragizawa appeared in sight. Syaoran glared hard, and crouched down. Onlookers thought there was an on filming of the Asian popular movie: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, considering since Syaoran looked almost ready to prey on the approaching Eriol any minute.

Target sighted. Ready to launch.

The blue-eyed boy looked almost calm and relaxed as he strolled towards his locker. The truth was, Eriol had already noticed Syaoran a mile away and had heard the rumors that there was someone building a Syaoran statue by the lockers. He had his Clow's magic to picture it, and indeed, Syaoran looked furious.

Eriol tried to accede the strategy of the Chesire cat move.

He brushed by Syaoran and opened his locker, cool-headed.

That only made Syaoran wanted to launch at the man in an instant. To get his attention, Syaoran gave an intentional cough. Eriol, at that, turned around with a surprised look.

"Oooh, Li-kun!" Eriol looked exaggeratingly happy. "I have not noticed you standing by here. Are you waiting for Sakura-san?"

Eriol was good with words, and Syaoran was now blushing to the tip of his nose when Eriol mentioned it.

Eriol gave a grin, "Aa. You must be coming down with the influenza. The first symptom of it is the dry cough, which was the one you came down with when I was about to open the locker."

Syaoran looked suddenly lost and confused. "Influenza?" That would be bad if he was to come down with sickness when the first term of High school was only beginning? That would be extremely bad! Syaoran made it a point to remember to drink gallons of water when his showdown with Eriol was settled.

Syaoran cleared his throat once more, signaling strict business. "Actually, I'm here to talk to you."

If Eriol was surprised, he did not show it. "Is that so, my little descendant?" Eriol turned his back and pretended to busy himself with his books. "If I remember, I do not look very much like Sakura-san. In fact, not at all. I"

"CUT IT OUT!" Syaoran bellowed.

Seijouu High students around blinked at the outburst.

Syaoran sweat dropped, but immediately decided what he had at hands was definitely more important.

"I want to talk to you about Daidouji-san."

Eriol dropped his textbooks onto the floor.

Strike one.

Syaoran grinned, glad his blunt phrase had made the kick out of Eriol's morning. For the first time, he was triumphant about his victory. He had actually gained the upper hand! Even now, the blue-eyed boy still looked out of sorts as he bent down to pick up his books.

"Well, if you're going to try to avoid the issue by pretending to," Syaoran eyed Eriol closely, "dust your books, it's not going to help."

Eriol lost all thoughts on his strategies. He decided Syaoran must have taken the wrong medicine this morning. Either that, or he had grown incredibly smart. Eriol reconsidered that. If that was true, Syaoran would not have believed his fabrication about an influenza case a while ago.

No, Syaoran was still sane. It was he, the almighty Clow Reed incarnation, who was losing it by just a mere mention of her name.

Behind, Syaoran continued to speak.

"I know everything, Hiiragizawa, and I'm telling you," his voice was fierce and commanding, "if you so much lay a finger on her, don't even think about seeing the lights of tomorrow. Daidouji-san is a good girl and I shall not let my friend be preyed on by this evil incarnate like you. I know what happened yesterday. Sakura told me all about it. So don't get too cocky yet, you evil dolt." Syaoran practically seethed with anger.

Eriol wanted to die for the first time, wishing the floor would be weak enough to swallow him up. However had Syaoran caught on to the game so fast? It was always him who had the gains of teasing the amber-eyed boy until the latter wanted only to punch him in the nose and knock his glasses off. Such humiliation for the boy only proved to be pleasure for Eriol. Wait, what was that? Didn't that made him a sadist?

Ahhhh, whatever it was, Eriol was now the loser, and Syaoran had won.

Strike two.

Immediately, memories conjured up in Eriol's head. He remembered last night where he had offered to walk the beautiful and exquisite Tomoyo Daidouji home. To his horror ( and pushing all the blame to the immaturity and inexperienced life of Clow Reed ) he could not deny the fact that he was utterly attracted to the heiress of Daidouji manor.

It all began when he arrived back on a flight with his two guardians and re-attended elementary school at 2nd term. It was then he had found it unnerving each time Tomoyo turned to ask him small favors like borrowing a pencil, or to just smile at him saying "Good morning".

HOW COULD SYAORAN KNOW ALL THIS?

"Hiiragizawa." Syaoran was obviously waiting for a response, leaning with his elbow against the lockers and his hand upon his head. Eriol wanted to bury his head in the locker for eternity, literally, if his head was puny enough to stick it in there with his cramped books.

It gave him time to think of another strategy. Eriol turned and gazed deeply into Syaoran's eyes.

Syaoran instantly saw Clow Reed in them, and decided to tell Eriol straight it was not going to affect him this time. He wanted to grin cruelly even. What a sadist, he thought to himself. "If you think you're going to use your magic on me, I can blackmail you anytime."

Eriol was sane enough to only want to punch the hell out of Syaoran.

"Right, think whatever you want. You're not going to get anything out of me." Eriol turned away, but Syaoran's words next stopped him.

"When did it begin? I mean, your crush on her."

Silence.

"I don't think that's your business, descendant."

Syaoran blew his fringe off his eyes irritably, "Yes, it's not, but Tomoyo is my friend, you dimwit."

"I'm surprised you're calling me a dimwit when it was obviously you who had me hyperventilating in sweat trying to get you to confess your feelings to Sakura"

"Oh? But it seems like you're repeating my mistake."

"Is that so? You don't even know what I am feeling."

"Don't think your status as an evil incarnate can get you anywhere. You want to test me how much I know? Yes, I know you blush every time you sit behind Tomoyo and she starts talking to you. Yes, I know you lose your head every time she seeks your help on math questions, yes, I know you hyperventilate when she walks by the library when you're there and shoots you a smile. Yes, I KNOW EVERYTHING, if that's what you're trying to make me say, Hiiragizawa!" Syaoran practically yelled.

Eriol thought his face could burn in hell right at this moment. Darn Syaoran to say the worst things right in your face that you can only think of wanting the floor to practically, entirely swallow your frame up and bury you in the grounds forever.

You are such a mighty jerk, descendant, Eriol wanted to spat right in Syaoran's face. His own blushes, his own I'm-gonna-lose-my-head-right-now-if-she's-gonna-turn-around-once-more thoughts were his own private business, not anyone else! And he certainly was NOT going to share them with someone as dense as Syaoran.

No way.

But, Eriol hated to say this, Syaoran's too-much realizations and observations were beginning to freak him out.

Slowly, he felt himself slow and turn around, pausing in his tracks. His blue eyes met Syaoran's for a long while, and both had nothing to say.

Finally, he spoke. "What do you want me to do then?" There was a tinge of exasperation to his voice. "Confess to the entire world I like her?"

Syaoran smiled suddenly, an earnest one that surprised Eriol.

"No, I only want you to take care of her."

Eriol thought he could have swoon from astonishment. All that yelling and jousting of words to have only Syaoran telling him his purpose was to ask him to take care of Tomoyo? It was out of the world.

"I'm serious," Syaoran's voice turned serious, "Eriol."

Eriol?

Eriol felt his eyes cloud, and for the first time, he realized he could just get used to Syaoran's solemnity. Again, they stared at each other from a distance, their eyes suddenly serious and strictly no-nonsense. For Syaoran to call Eriol by his first name showed the level of solemnity he was feeling right at this moment. Obviously Syaoran took this as an awfully business-like thing.

Eriol said nothing, but Syaoran had already taken a few steps towards the blue-eyed sorcerer.

His amber eyes were fierce, but hemmed with honesty and firmness.

"Daidouji-san is my friend, my sister. She was the one who stood by me back in those days when I did not have the courage to tell Sakura that I loved her. It was Daidouji-san who comforted me in those times, who taught me the ways to express my feelings. If I did not have Daidouji-san as my friend, if I did not have her support, I could not certainly have Sakura by my side today, do you understand?"

Syaoran's eyes bore deep into Eriol's.

A rush of emotions flooded Eriol's soul, and he realized why, for the first time, Sakura had loved Syaoran to such intensity.

There was a long bout of silence.

Syaoran immediately looked irritated, shifting from one feet to another uncomfortably, "Do you understand, or not? Do you need me to explain again, or are you just playing dumb?"

Eriol slowly nodded, feeling his Chesire pretense shedding quickly. His deep, baritone voice spoke, something he seldom used in teasing Syaoran.

"I'll treat her fine. You can put your worries at ease."

Both boys stood in their uniforms, silent in their own reverie once more when Syaoran broke the atmosphere.

"Do you love her then?" He sounded nothing of the curious sort, only seriously wanting the truth out of the blue-eyed boy.

His straightforward question hit Eriol like a bullet train. Darn, but that boy was faster than he actually admitted he was. He had actually shot a question the blue-eyed boy had not even pondered himself either.

Now, he was forced to face it right on the spot.

And he hated the way his face suffused with pink spots.

Syaoran was still waiting. "Well?"

It made Eriol thought for a long while. In his mind, he played back the recollections of it all - distant times when he had barely known Tomoyo back in elementary school days, but still had the power enough to entice him enough. When he turned 13 and gained entry to Seijouu High, he still sat in the same seat right behind Tomoyo with considerable chance. Or was it destiny? Whatever it was, from there, his intrigue for her only grew stronger.

She was always there before him, and grew even prettier to a blossoming young teenage girl. More often, they were paired up together for project works, competitions, duo quizzes, and Eriol found himself suddenly irresistible to her all of a sudden.

He still didn't know if she felt the same.

"I'm waiting, Hiiragizawa. Your time is up. You have thought long enough." Syaoran's disciplined stare never left those marine thoughtful eyes.

Eriol was broken from his momentary trance, and he felt the dissipation of the memories a sudden loss to him. He watched Syaoran's eyes, and both men stood like statues again.

Onlookers/passer-bys, were thinking indeed, there was some real rivalry going on between these two boys who wanted to out beat each other on the Seijouu record for standing without motion.

Unbearable silence, but Syaoran found himself patiently waiting. For Tomoyo, he would willing himself to hear an answer from Eriol, even if it took that man to think up to a century to decide if he loved her, or not.

Eriol's heaving sigh finally broke the tension. Syaoran's eyebrow arched.

"You know the answer already, don't you? Why do you even bother asking me?"

Syaoran took another step forward, crossing his arms. "Because it is your answer that I want to hear. Honest, and straight."

"You're black-hearted, aren't you? I did not even force an answer from you back then, if you have remembered clearly."

"I don't care." Syaoran said simply, and Eriol saw that there was no way he could escape his cruel, bleak fate, even if it meant running away right now at top speed. Syaoran would have his way tracking Eriol down after school, during recess, everywhere, until he gave the answer.

Eriol let out a sigh, saw that there was no other way. He took off his glasses, wiped them with his handkerchief, and put it back on.

"Yes."

It was all Syaoran wanted to hear, and it made him smile.

"Now listen, you twit" He began, but was cut off immediately.

"Don't 'you twit' me." Eriol retorted back smoothly. Their jousting was officially back.

Syaoran couldn't care less, "I don't care. You listen to me. You may be a Class-A jerk, and may continue to remain Tomoeda's most sought-after boy and the popular heartbreaker for many girls' heart." His eyes turned steel with determination. "But I swear on my life, as long as I live, I will not let you shatter Daidouji-san's heart, 'cause if you do, you can bet your pathetic life that I shall haunt you day in day out and unleash the most destructible of damages on your poor heart as well."

Eriol actually thought Syaoran sounded believing.

"You may be an evil incarnate, too, but I won't stop you from liking Daidouji-san since it seems apparent that she likes you back, too."

At that, Eriol's eyes lit up. "What?"

Syaoran continued, ignoring the man's exclamation. "Shut up, I'm talking. If liking you back gives Daidouji-san her happiness, I shall gladly allow her to do so. From my analytic observations, you're the worst heartbreaker I've ever seen in life, but I trust you to be Daidouji-san's dream boyfriend."

Eriol felt his heart leapt. Was this Tomoyo's acceptance?

Syaoran placed another feet forward, the distance closing enough just right for him to give a light punch at Eriol's shoulder.

"Remember my words, incarnate, or else I shall knock your glasses off your nose so hard, you'll be left with no eyes and a miserable, flat nose forever."

With that, Syaoran tugged his books under his arms, and trudged off.

It gave Eriol a few quick seconds to think thoroughly, before he lurched forward. "Wait!"

The amber-eyed boy paused in his tracks, and turned around, obviously annoyed. "What is it? I've finished my business with you."

Silence as Eriol took a step forward, pushing his glasses up his nose once more.

For the first time, he offered Syaoran an honest, thankful smile.

"Arigatou, Li."

If the amber-eyed boy was surprised, he showed no signs of it, as if taking it in with grace and dignity. He gave an affirmative nod of his head and returned the smile with equal honesty plastered upon it.

"Don't mention it, Hiiragizawa." Syaoran looked teasing now, but he hid signs of it. "But just to let you know, you are still a Class-A dimwit."

He turned around and ran off just as the period bell rang for homeroom class.

Eriol gave a slight grin and felt the first flutter of butterflies acting upon his guts. He pictured Tomoyo and her smiles once more. Gazing back down the direction Syaoran had ran off into, a wistful smile began on his lips.

"And you're still a mighty jerk, my little descendant." He spoke to no one in particular.

****

Owari

Author notes:

Finally! It took me a long while to type this entire thing, and my fingers are honestly aching now. It was such a long boy talk to begin with, and I must say Syaoran looks mighty terrifying in here! It's slightly OOC on their part, but I thought touching a little on their childish and boyish sides for awhile would provide some fun for me, and I did enjoy seeing them jousting with their feelings! Till then, mata!

chiri no tenshi


End file.
